Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-03-11
KIN G.
Solomon S Mines.
CHAPTER w.
AN ELEPHANT HUNT.

lEukdUga anu d JouHcy
of moro than thousand miles from Durham,
the last three hundred or so of which, ow
ing to the frequent presence OF the dreadful
''tsetse" fy. whose bite is fatal TO ali ami
mails except donkeys and men, we had to
make on foot
We left Durham at the end of January,
and ii was in the second week of May that
we camped near Sitanda's Kraal. Our adj
ventures on the way were many and various,
but as theg were OF the sort which befali
every African hunter, shall not-with one
exception, 10 be presently detailed-set them
down here, lest | should render tbs history
too wearisome.
At hyatt, the outlying trading station in
the Matabeie country, OF which LObengula
"a great scOundreD is king, we, with many
regrets, parted from our comfortable wagon.
Only twelve oxen remained 10 us out OF the
beautiful span OF twenty which j had
bought at Durham One we had lost from
the bite OF a COBRA three had persisted from
poverty and the want Of water, one had been
lost and the other three had died from eat
Ing the poisonous herb called tulip" Five
more sckened from this cuIsc, but we
managed to cure them with doses OF az in
fusion made by boiling down the tulip
leaves. If administered III time, this is
very tHttlift aHlitDlt. j nt Nd1bl anu
oxen were left in the immediate charge Of
Coco and Tom, the driver and leader, both
of them trustworthy boys, requesting n
worthy Scotch missionary who lived in this
wild place 10 keep an eye to 1t. Then, &C
c0mpanied by Umbopa Khiya, Nentyogel,
and half dozen bearers whom we hired on
the spot we started of on foot upon Our
wild quest remember we were all little
sitauf mi n occasion nj thgf I4tl and
| think that each of US was wondering If we
should ever see that wagon again; for my
part. | never expected tn. For n while we
trainpcd on In silence, till Umbopa who was
marching in front, broke into a Zulu chant
about how some brave men, tired OF life and
the tameness OF things, started oil into
great wilderness TO find new things or die:
and how, 10 and behold? when they had got
far into the wilderness they found it was
not a wilderness at all, but beautiful place
full of young wives and fat cattle, of game
to hunt and enemies TO kill.
Then we all laughed and tool, it for good
omen. lie was a cheerful savage was Um-
bopa, In dIgnihed sort of way, when he
had not got one of his fits OF brooding, and
had wonderful knaclt or keeping ones
spirits up. We all got very fond Of him.
And now for the one adventure | was 90
Ing tn treat myself 10, for do dearly love n
hunting yarn.
About fOrtnight's march from lnyatI, we
came across a peculiarly beautiful bit Of
fairly watcred, wooded country. The klOOfS
In the hills were covered with dense bush.
"id0ro" bush rs the natives call it, and in
some places, with the "wacht-Ccn- becho'
twaita-litticD thorn, and there were great
quantities of the beautiful 'machabelP'
III. III.
with enormous stones. This tree is the
elephants favOnte food. and there were not
wanting signs that the great brutGs were
about, for not only was their spoor frequent,
but In many places the trees were broken
down and even uprootGd. The elephant is a
destructive feeder.
One evening, after days march. we came
10 spot of peculiar lOvelincss. At the foot
of busI-clad hill was dry riycr-brd, in
which, however, were to be found pools of
crystal water all troddcn round with the
hoof- prints of game Facing the hill was n
park-iike plain, where grew cumps of fiat
topped min0sa, varied with occasional
glossy-lcaved machabclIs, and all round was
the great sea OF pathlcss, silent bush.
As we emerged into this riycr-brd path we
suddenly started a troop Of tall giraflcS, who
gallopcd, or rather sailed off, with their
strange gait, thnir tails screwed up over
their backs and their hoOfS rattling like cas-
tanets They were about three hundred
yards from us, and therefore practically out
OF shot; but Good, who was walking ahead,
and had an express loaded with solid ball
could not resist bud upped gun and let drive
at tile last, a young cow. BY some cxtraor-
binary chance the ball struck 1t full on the
back OF the neck, Shnttering the spinal coll
umn and that giraffe went rolling head over
heels just like a rabbit. | never saw a more
curious thing.
Curse it, said Go0d-fOr am sorry to
say he had a habit of using strong language
when cxcted-cnntracted no doubt In the
course of his nautical career; curse it! I've
killed him"
"Ou Bowman" calculated the Kafrs
lou! our
because of his cyeglass.
"Oh, 'Bougwany" re-cchoed Sir Henry
and |, and from that day Goods reputation
rs a marvellous shot was established, ut any
rate among the KahrE. Really he was u bad
one, but whenever he missed, we overlooked
II for the sake OF that giraffe.
Having sent some OF the "hoys" to cut of
the best Of thu giraffe meat we went to work
to build "schcrm' near one Of the pools
about hundred yards to the right ul IT,
This II done by cutting Il quantity of thorn
bushes and laying them In the shape of a
circular hedge. Then the space mclusrd is
smoothed, aud dry tamboui grass, If OBJ
tainable is made into 4 bed in the center
ami ire or fires lighted.
Bv thc time the "schrrm" was finished
the moon was coming up, and our dinner of
tn, Ia.
ready Eowwc enjoyed those murrow-hones
though it was rather a job To crack thcml |
know no greater luxury than giraffe marrow,
unless ii is elephants heart, and we had that
ON the morrow. We ate our simple meal
patlsing II times to thank Good tor his won
dertul Shot 10y the light OF the tull moon,
and then We began TO smoke and YARN, and
acurlous picture we must have made squat
tel there around the tire. t. with my short
Eri2zled hair sticking up Straight and Sir
Henry with his yellow locks. which were
getting rather long, were rather contrast
especially as am thin and short, and dark
weighing only nine stone and "A half and
Sir iienry Is tall, and broad. and fair, and
weighs fifteen. But perhaps the NEST curious
looking of the three, taking all the circum-
stances of the case In consideration. was
Captain John Good, L. \. There he sat up
ON leather bag looking Just rs though he
had come In from comfortable days shoot
ing in civilized country, absolutely clean.
tidy, and well-dreSScd lie had a shooting
suit of brown tweed, with a hat tn match,
and neat CATERS. He was rs usual, beauti-
fully shaved, his eyeglasses and his false
teeth appeared to he in perfect order, and
altogether he was the ncatcst man | ever
had To do with in the wilderness. He even
had on collar, OF which he had supply,
made of white gutta-pcrcha
You see, they weigh SO little" he said to
me innoccntly, when | expressed my aston.
iShment at the fact; Il always like TO look
like gentleman"
Well, there we sat all EARNING away in tho
beautiful moonlight, and watching the Katirs
a few yards of sucking their Intoxicating
"daeeha" in Il pipe of which the mouth
piece was made Of the horn Of an Gland, till
they one by one rolled themselves up in
their blankets and went 10 sleep by the fire
that Is, all except UmbOpa, who sat little
apart Il noticed he never mixed much with
the other kahrS), his chin resting on his
hand, apparently thinking deeply.
Presently from the depths OF the bush be.
hind us, came 4 loud "woof, woofr' That's
lion said l, and we all started M TO lis
ten. Handy had we done SO, when nom the
poo, about hundred yards of, came tbs
strIdent trTrnpeting OF an elephant "Incu-
oa! lncuhu! elephant! clephantD whis-
pered the kaiirs; and few minutes after.
ward We saw a succession OF vast shadow
forms moving slowly from the direction OF